DILLON — Thursday morning, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) held a grand opening ceremony for its office on Lockemy Highway in the city of Dillon.

Since 2007, refugees from the African country of Burundi have been migrating to Dillon. There are about 300 refugees who now live there. According to its website, the USCRI “protect the rights and address the needs of persons in forced or voluntary migration
worldwide by advancing fair and humane public policy, facilitating and providing direct professional services, and promoting the full participation of migrants in community life.”

The refugees fled their home country due to civil war that started in 1993. Some reports estimate that has many as 300,000 people have been killed.

Samuel Ndikumana is a native of Burundi and has lived in the United States for many years now. He says he’s been a legal citizen in this country since 2008. He works at the USCRI office in Dillon as a caseworker and translator…

…Samuel Ndikumana is a native of Burundi and has lived in the United States for many years now. He says he’s been a legal citizen in this country since 2008. He works at the USCRI office in Dillon as a caseworker and translator…

…He says the refugees came to Dillon County because of jobs. Ndikumana says the county has several plants, including Perdue and Harbor Freight Tools that employ many of the refugees. They also work at fast food restaurants and other businesses in the area… Read more here

The numbers of refugees resettled to South Carolina has increased steadily since 2006, and most refugees are resettled to the Columbia area, according to an article in The Augusta Chronicle. Lutheran Family Services in South Carolina had problems in 2004 when residents of Cayce said they did not want Somali Bantus in their community.

South Carolina has about 150 refugees in the program now, with about 40 percent from Burma and 40 percent from Iraq.

If refugees have a family or friend in some part of South Carolina, they are typically sent there.

About 75 percent come with no ties and stay in the Columbia area. Numbers of refugees fleeing war or persecution have increased steadily since 2006, when the Palmetto State had 123 refugees, with recent federal funding per year about $370,000, according to federal data.

Sometimes residents pose a challenge.

The most notable resistance in South Carolina took place in 2004, when residents of Cayce said they did not want Somali Bantus in their community.

Residents said their schools could not accommodate the refugees’ children and that their tribal culture and Muslim faith were too foreign.

“LFS decided not to challenge that,” Jazic said. “We did not want to put refugees in a situation where they would not be welcome. Thank goodness there were others who said, ‘We can deal with it and work it out.’ ” here